Talk Talk (RIP Mark Hollis)

'Spirit Of Talk Talk' (as it is named) is still a mighty affair which, in testament to Talk Talk's 30th anniversary, will feature 30 artists and acts and personalities including King Creosote, Alan Wilder, Jason Lytle, Zero 7, Crispin Hunt, Linton Kwesi Johnson, White Belt Yellow Tag, Electric Soft Parade, Joan As Policewoman, White Lies, Goldheart Assembly and many, many more guesting cats from Bon Iver to Arcade Fire covering 30 Talk Talk tunes from 'Today' to ‘Life’s What You Make It’ to ‘After The Flood’ in their own inimitable style.

ugh do they have to really do this

Most of that list there are contributors to the book.

(i.e. LKJ is not doing a cover version for instance)

Well we've been keeping it under our furry hat but the truth will always out. And so it is that likes of Pitchfork have picked up on the factette that we have been working in our top secret bunker on a compilation tribute album to those abstract ‘80s synthpop wonders TALK TALK. It was 1982 when Mark Hollis and pals first soared into view with a slew of deceptively commercial hit singles. However by the time Talk Talk delivered the seminal 'The Colour Of Spring' album, which brilliantly merged pop instinct with experimental flair, they'd long since shed any hint of being mere also(Duran Du)rans ... We also think Talk Talk are quite splendid because the video for 'It's My Life' featured polar bears, flamingos and flying squirrels.

Is this record being sponsored by Innocent Smoothies or something? Who writes this fucking drivel?

^ that's a quote from the Fierce Panda site btw

http://fiercepanda.co.uk/news.php?story=289

(i.e. LKJ is not doing a cover version for instance)

Y' wha?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UygMpqz9fco/SnvKMKEOkUI/AAAAAAAAAD4/xI4CVnQumrk/s320/__lintonkwesijohnsonmoretime5dh.jpg

Also, could it not be possible that Mark Hollis is getting some sort of 'fee' from the mobile phone company?

LKJ is apparently on the cover version of Inheritance with Alan Wilder.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/talk-talk-mark-hollis/talk-talk-tribute-album-book-project/10150206532049171

At least they're not soliciting for a fucking Kickstarter campaign for this.

Bring it on, sacrificial tribute album lambs.

You know what a good tribute to Talk Talk would be guys? Not recording anything!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSVC5v-evkc

http://spiritoftalktalk.com/

Now this I will buy, unlike the Felt book which I had to pass on. James Marsh is amazing.

looking forward to seeing Hollis signing copies of this at launch events the length and breadth of the land. preceded by a short acoustic session, natch

"Such A Shame" imo

otm

Colour of Spring and Spirit of Eden getting vinyl reissues.

http://www.factmag.com/2012/03/26/emi-to-reissue-classic-talk-talk-albums/

One of these days I will finally buy The Party's Over on CD so my T-shelf no longer says ALK ALK on it.

That's the only reason I own it.

It's a cunning marketing ploy. I have resisted all these years, but one day I know that it'll be deleted by EMI and I will be stuck with ALK ALK for life.

Cummon folks, 'Talk Talk' and the title track are great tunes!

They're not I Believe In You, though.

Someone give me their own personal pitchfork scores for all five albums

5.5
6.6
7.7
8.8
9.9

(Actually I think SoE and LS are about even.)

8.8 tsk tsk

6
7.5
9
10
10

^ that i'd almost subscibe to myself, particularly regarding the last three

4
7
7.5
9.6
9.4812

5.5
8.1
9.6
10
10

Funny list of contributors to that book.

Cummon folks, 'Talk Talk' and the title track are great tunes!

Yeah, seriously -- it's only bad in comparison to the other albums.

Preorder is go:

http://spiritoftalktalk.com/

So... $115 for the regular edition, $295 for the deluxe. For copies shipped to the USA, anyway. $60 shipping fee seems... high. But maybe the thing is heavy as shit.

yea.. i was going to order this until i saw the ridiculous shipping cost

Looks like they're only willing to ship UPS and not Royal Mail, due to previous bad experiences. Which essentially doubles the shipping cost.

I snagged a regular edition though... I really do love their album art. Wish they would do a poster set!

Covering Talk Talk seems like a losing game, but some of these attempts seem respectable:

https://www.facebook.com/SpiritOfTalkTalk?sk=app_178091127385

If I could wave a wand and have a covers album by contemporary artists of my choosing who might do a good job, I think it would have:

Low
The Knife
David Sylvian
Bjork
Anja Garbarek
Fennesz
Swans
Rachel's
Caribou
Robert Wyatt
Matthew Herbert
Portishead/Beak>

Said book does look utterly gorgeous but delivery costs to this remote outpost of the world, well...

Have Cadel bring you back a copy.

>I really do love their album art. Wish they would do a poster set!

James Marsh sells signed giclee prints (including all the Talk Talk covers) through his website, £55 each but they look like high-quality prints and obv. nice to have it signed by the artist.

hey wow, you're right! thanks for sharing that information.

I've listened to that 'Spirit of Talk Talk' cover album a couple of times now. It's a mixed bag, mostly terrible but there are a couple of genuinely great attempts. Do Make Say Think's version of 'New Grass' is divine. I've always detected a bit of late Talk Talk influence in their sound and I'm glad to see it pay off in so literally. There's a lot of attempts at setting songs in different contexts musically, like King Creosote's plodding acoustic take on 'Give It Up' or Zero 7's pitiful chill out version of 'The Colour of Spring'. The Nils Frahm / Peter Broderick / Davide Rossi cover of 'It's Getting Late In The Evening' is wonderful, all you'd expect from anyone who had the good taste to pick such a pivotal Talk Talk track (For me it's the moment where the band really evolved into something unique and spectacular). The guy from Grandaddy pitches 'Tomorrow Started' as a Grandaddy original and that really is as bad as it sounds. Still, it's a passing treat to hear someone even attempt to cover songs as texturally sparse and seemingly unreplicable as 'Myrrhman' or 'Runeii' and it's mostly the songs from 'Laughing Stock' that are the most interesting to me.

Basically I wouldn't buy it but it's worth a listen. The book on the other hand I can't wait to own.

Heard a couple of tracks from this tonight. Largely just seemed wrong.

Tried listening to it... didn't last long.

I could be wrong-headed about this, but their music doesn't seem like it would benefit so much from a tribute. A lot of their magic was in the presentation (performances, production, engineering, mixing) rather than the sheet music side o things.

It's the same reason I can't imagine getting anything out of a Timbaland tribute album.

I don't know what I want to hear less, this or that Fleetwood Mac tribute.

I can see some out-jazz collective doing a decent Talk Talk tribute, but that's about it. Haven't heard the Fleetwood Mac tribute, but my gut feeling was that if ZZ Top covered most of the Peter Green era it might be interesting.

Very hard to listen to this tribute album but I did enjoy the house remake of It's My Life on the bonus disc.

I'd totally agree with Mr Raffles re; the point of this thing. Glad I've heard bits of it because it's convinced me that I don't need to buy it.

I might've been more tempted if people had done some other songs; Why Is It So Hard?, John Cope, Pictures of Bernadette, would all feel like they'd lend themselves to cover versions more than Ascension Day or Inheritence.

Spirit of Talk Talk book came in the post today, really lovely presentation. feels heavy with a thick paper stock throughout.

Its divided into an essay on the bands career with interviews & band shots interspersed throughout, then a separate section for the artwork..

some of it is just lovely, the artwork especially.